5 Things You Don’t Know About: Sniper Rifles

The M107 was adopted not as an anti-personnel weapon, but as an anti-materiel weapon. Its penetrating capability comes from the size and the power of a 50 calibre cartridge. The 50 calibre bullet (also known as NATO 12×7.99 mm cartridge) was a 660 grain bullet. This 660 grain bullet dwarfs the 7.60×51 mm bullet – a bullet typically fired from weapons like the M41, M24 and the M240 machine gun.

Fact #2: The primary difference between the M40 and M24 is action length.

The M40 is similar in many ways to the M24 sniper rifle, but the only big difference is that the M40 is based on the short action Remington model 700. The army chose the M24 which is a long action model, so that the troops could have the flexibility of using either the 7.62×51 mm cartridge or the more powerful 300 Winchester Magnum.

Fact #3: The M25 is actually an upgraded M14.

The M14 was initially developed in the 1950s and was used in rugged situations during the Vietnam War. The Afghanistan War prompted the U.S. military to bring back the M14 as the M25, which they found to be effective in the Afghanistan war zone.

Fact #4: When the MK 12 was introduced, it was the only semi-auto sniper rifle firing 5.56 ammo.

No other rifle in the U.S. Military service was firing the 5.56 cartridge but the MK 12. The MK 12 allowed the shooter the capability to put more rounds downrange with great accuracy.

Fact #5: The M110 was the first semi-auto sniper rifle designed from the ground up.

Most U.S. service rifles were simply modifications of previous rifles. The M110, on the other hand, was imagined from the ground up as being a sniper rifle system.